A Chimp Off the Old Block

Question: Do infants have a connection to their mother because of survival or is there a deeper connection?

Hypothesis: Scientists believed that infants felt an attraction to their mothers for food and shelter, and that the mother showing affection towards her child was merely a sentimental gesture that served no real purpose.

Study Type: The study is a laboratory type study because scientists replicated the monkey’s natural environment in a laboratory to study them.

Ethical Issues: Ethical issues arose from the scientists separating baby monkeys from their mothers, isolating them from contact and occasionally putting them under stress. Further issues surrounded the crippling of the emotional development of the monkeys.

In University of Wisconsin laboratory, Harry Harlow took several infant monkeys of a few weeks old from their mothers and put them in individual cages. On one side of the cage, there was a wire replica of a mother monkey that suspended a milk bottle. On the other side of the cage, there was a softer cloth replica of a mother monkey that did not offer any food. The scientists observed the monkeys in their cages, noting specifically that the monkeys would prefer to stay near the cloth replica, despite the fact that it offered no nourishment. They would use the cloth mother as a “home base”, centering the explorations of their cages around it.

Following that, Harlow put the monkeys in new cages – this time, half of the monkeys only had a cloth mother and half of the monkeys had the wire duplicates. He then subjected the monkeys to stress through loud noises and drastic changes in the lighting. He noted that the monkeys with the cloth mothers would run to them, and lay on them in order to calm themselves from the stress. The monkeys with the wire mothers, however, would simply scream and run around their cages, as if the wire mother offered no comfort.

Authors: Sami Shroyer and Sam Peltier

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a disorder previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder. Many people believe it be similar to schizophrenia, however, the two are very different. DID is when a person develops two or more “personalities” as a way of coping with severe trauma. The different personalities often do not know of the others existence which causes confusion for the original personality. DID sufferers very rarely only have two personalities. In fact, there have been cases of people having upwards of 15 personalities. Psychologists have known about DID for at least a century, and Sigmund Freud was one of the first psychologists to link the disease to trauma. DID usually occurs in patients who have experienced severe psychological trauma, the other personalities develop as a coping mechanism for the main personality.

Arguably the most famous case of DID was that of Shirley Ardell Mason, better known as Sybil. Mason developed 16 personalities ranging from adult women to a baby. Her case is well documented in the book and move Sybil. It is believed that Mason developed DID after suffering repeated sexual abuse at the hands of her mother when she was a small child. Her mother is also believed to be schizophrenic. Though many people with DID do have a family history of mental health problems, the disease is not hereditary. Rather, like substance abuse, if there is a family history of it the chances of developing it increase.

Author: Alyson Croney

The Theory of Psychological Repression

Repression, which Sigmund Freud also called “Motivated Forgetting”, is the inability to recall a threatening situation, person or event as a defense mechanism. The concept of Repression, now accepted as fact by psychologists was theorized by Sigmund Freud, an early pioneer in modern psychology, about how humans develop their personalities. According to Freud’s theory, in the Primary Repression phase, an infant learns that some aspects of reality are pleasant, and others are unpleasant; that some are controllable, and others not. In order to define the "self", the infant must repress the natural assumption that all things are equal. At the end of this phase, the child can now distinguish between desires, fears, self, and others.

The secondary stage of Repression begins once the child realizes that acting on some desires may bring anxiety. This anxiety leads to repression of the desire. The threat of punishment related to this form of anxiety, when internalized becomes the “superego”, which intercedes against the desires of the “id” without the need for any identifiable external threat. This conflict then manifests itself within the “ego”.

Elizabeth Loftus tried to use this theory to implant false memories in individuals in the late 20th century. However she could not complete her experiment because it was seen as unethical to implant someone with painful thoughts or memories. There’s an enormous amount of supporting research in the area of this subject started in the 1950s by Leon Festinger and other researchers.

Another way of understanding this is much simpler: a repressed, traumatic event arouses anxiety of the event without arousing the memory.

Author: Lucas Pscheidt

Lying in the Brain

Some liars are not just lying because they are trying to prevent a conflict. To a pathological liar it is actually easer to lie than telling the truth. Pathological liars usually lie without thinking about it. Their lying is so subconscious that most pathological liars never correct this mental disorder.

A study was done in 2005 by neuroscientists Adrian Raine and Yaling Yang. These two scientists took 21 normal people that did not have a history of pathological lying, 16 people with antisocial personalities, and 12 people with a history of pathological lying. All of these 29 test subjects brain’s where scanned and examined by a MRI. Adian and Yaling found that the pathological liars had more white matter and less gray matter in the prefrontal cortex of their brains than the rest of the test subjects; the normal test subjects had more gray matter and less white matter than the rest of the test subjects. They also found that pathological liars have about 26% more white matter in their prefrontal cortex than most people with other mental disorder.

Although there is no cure for a pathological liar, medication and therapy helps reduce the frequency of lies for some of them. Yet some times these techniques do not work due to the patient lying about taking their medications or lying in their therapy sessions.

Author: Nick Pederson

Peter Pan Syndrome

Peter Pan syndrome, also known as puer aeternus meaning eternal boy in Latin, is a psychological condition where an older man cannot grow up emotionally and mentally. This syndrome is caused by a desire to remain young and not face the responsibilities of his adulthood. This syndrome is usually coupled with great dependence on the mother. Peter Pan syndrome is usually caused by the rejection from the adult world. As a defense, the person hides from the adult world. A fear of failure and insecurity lead him to rely more on his mother who is an ultimate provider of care, love, and confidence. As a result, person with Peter Pan syndrome tends to be rebellious towards the social orders and rules.

Specific Symptoms
• Find it hard to show their love and express their feelings
• Lose touch with their emotions and have no idea what they feel
• Procrastinate and put off making a commitment
• Feel guilty and blame others for everything
• Have difficulty in relaxing and are always tense
• Have no real connection with friends. Believes friends can only be bought
• Easily panics and feels desperately alone in their attempts to belong
• Alcohol or drug abuse is used to get high in order to drown out the existence of daily life challenges
• Have a problem with their mother
• Don't get on with the Dad and probably not even talking to them
• They believe their parents don't love them and never approve of what they do
• Have problems with authority figures
• Tend to be emotionally immature and exhibit silly behavior
• Have a macho attitude that hides their deep inner insecurities in attempts to hide the fear of rejection
• Become extremely jealous and exhibit violent outbursts
• Become easily provoked to fits of rage when a woman asserts any independence

The term Peter Pan syndrome was coined by pop psychologist Dan Kiley in his book “Peter Pan syndrome: Men who Have Never Grown Up.” Peter Pan is in reference to J.M. Barrie’s classic play Peter Pan where a boy refuses to grow up.

Author: Gabe Choi

Depersonalization Disorder

Depersonalization disorder is a psychological ailment that gives sufferers a sense of detachment from one’s self or a sense of automation. To people with this disorder, they feel like they are in a dream or like they are going through life without really experiencing it. Individuals with this disorder also describe that they have experiences where they are not in control of their thoughts, emotions, or even their own actions and they feel like someone else is in control.

This disorder is fascinating as it acts as a defense mechanism for the sufferer. People who have gone through deep psychological trauma such as childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse; accidents, war, and torture. People with this disorder slip into periods of unreality where their subconscious takes over. This is to protect them from reoccurring thoughts of past traumatic events that are usually brought on by stress.

To this day, there is still no official cure or treatment for depersonalization disorder. A variety of psychotherapeutic techniques have been applied yet the disorder has remained resistant to any and all treatments. Treatments, however, are in the process of being researched.

Author: Spencer Franklin

Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreaming is a dream in which one is aware that they are dreaming and in retrospect can control their dream. There are two ways one can have a lucid dream, either a Dream-initiated lucid dream (DILD) or a Wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD). A DILD occurs when one is in the state of dreaming, and consciously realizes that they are in a dream. A WILD happens when the dreamer goes from a waking state directly into a dreaming state; with no lapse of consciousness.

Lucid dreaming is interesting because very few people can actually do it. However it can be attained by external cues in a kind of classical conditioning. For example a study was done in the early 1970’s at South Dakota University, where the subject listened to a tape before and during sleep. They would use a muffed bell alarm, and bright light whenever the subject reached REM sleep; to try and provoke the lucid dreaming. It turned out that lucid dreaming can be provoked using external cues and psychological methods. Philosopher Norman Malcolm argued against the possibility of checking dream reports; saying the realization of the dreamer’s eyes affected their physical eyes. Proving that actions used while in full consciousness could be repeated in a lucid dream. Parapsychologist Keith Hearne proved this in the late 1970’s by testing a trained lucid dreamer Alan Worsley, who used rapid eye movements to contact that he was one the onset of lucidity; it was recorded by a Polysomnograph machine.



Author: Kyle Fagan